We have very little direct evidence of the clothing of the early 'Anglo-Saxons', as the surviving textiles are only fragmentary (usually in a mineralised form on metal artefacts) and there is little or no pictorial or literary evidence from this country.   Fortunately we do have records of the continental Germanic peoples, both from surviving garments and late Roman pictorial and literary representations.   The link between the early 'Anglo-Saxons' and their continental relatives can easily be shown from the high degree of similarity between burials, pottery, jewellery, etc., so these become an important resource when looking at early Anglo-Saxon dress.

The main archaeological sources we have for early Anglo-Saxon clothing are the many cemeteries, along with a number of settlement sites.   Many hundreds, if not thousands of Anglo-Saxon graves have been excavated from the fifth to seventh centuries, most with grave goods of some kind.   The most common types of grave finds are clothing fasteners such as buckles and brooches.   Fortunately for the costume historian the Pagan Anglo-Saxons had a habit of burying their dead in their everyday clothes. #1   Unfortunately the sites that Anglo-Saxons chose for cemeteries were not ideal for the preservation of organic materials such as cloth and leather, although metal and bone often survive well.   In many cases the metal artefacts preserve portions of the cloth in the form of 'mineralisation,' #2  and in some lucky cases fragments of the actual cloth or leather have survived.   In the latter case it is sometimes possible to test for dyestuffs.  Comparison of the cloth found in different parts of the grave can give a good idea of how much of the body each garment covered.

On it's own, the information gained from the archaeology of these graves would not allow us to reconstruct the dress of the Early Anglo-Saxons.   Fortunately we have several other avenues of information open to us.   By comparing burials on the continental homelands, both before and during the period of the migrations, we see that the selection of and placement of goods in the grave are the same as those in Anglo-Saxon burials.   This tells us that there was little or no change in the style of clothing worn when they left the continent.   This is very useful as there are a number of garments surviving on the continent due to waterlogged conditions or burials in stone coffins where the clothing did not rott completely.   We also have more pictorial representations and literature from the continent. 

The best preserved items of clothing are from the North German and Danish bogs and include cloaks, gowns, tunics, trousers and shoes along with a wide array of personal items like knives, weapons, combs, etc., generally dating from the third to sixth centuries.   It seems that some of these were preserved when people drowned in the bogs, though in some cases it seems the items (and sometimes people) were sacrificed in the bogs.   As yet, no sacred bogs like this have been discovered in England.

We also have a number of more fragmentary, but generally reconstructable garments from burials in Scandinavia, Germany and France.   All these garments show a high degree of similarity throughout the Germanic world and so form a good basis for Anglo-Saxon dress. #3

The number of pictorial sources that the Anglo-Saxons made of themselves that have survived are very few, and all highly stylised, but once again they are remarkably similar to continental examples, and on the continent, particularly in Scandinavia, we have a large series of gold foils with stamped decoration portraying men and women, most of which date to 500-700AD, so they form a good source of information.   The figures are very styilised, but they do show the overall effect of the clothing.   There are also a number of other representations in stone and metalwork from various places.

For the early part of the period we also have Roman sources, and these are often more naturalistic than Germanic ones, giving more detail.   It can also be seen that during the last years of the Western Roman Empire there was quite a strong influence on Roman fashion from the Germanic styles, probably because of the influx of 'barbarians' into the Empire.   Naturally there was also an influence the other way, with Roman fashion being incorporated to some extent into Germanic dress.

Lastly we have the written sources.  There are no English sources for the period under study as the Anglo-Saxons were non-literate at this time.   However, much of their poetry, stories and culture was written down soon after and contains hints towards dress.   Even on the continent written sources are not too common, but again there are hints here and there towards the clothing and appearance of people in the period.
 

When looking at sources of information it is important to bear in mind whether you are viewing a primary, secondary or tertiary source, and whether it is a good or bad source.   An excellent explanation of this may be found at http://www.virtue.to/articles/sources.html

Footnotes
1 It is generally accepted that the clothing the Pagan Saxons were buried in were the clothes they wore in everyday life, although it may be that the exact choice of goods to be included may have been somewhat ritualised with certain items not included, or used in a way not typical of everyday wear.   It is also likely that some items used in everyday life were not included.   The way grave-goods were chosen and their significance is a major study in its own right! Back

2 Mineralisation is the process where metal salts in the corrosion products from metal artefacts impregnate threads and produce a cast of the fibres.   This allows us to identify the weave, thread count and sometimes even the likely type of thread used for a garment.   Back

3 As the period goes on the continental developments are mirrored in England although styles of dress do diverge somewhat.   The basic garments seem to have remained broadly similar, although the exact way they were worn seems to have varied, particularly the placement and selection of items such as brooches.   Back

Main References
Various Anglo-Saxon Cemetery and Settlement reports
Ancient Danish Textiles from Bogs and Burials - Margrethe Hald

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